Monthly Subscription Boxes

Monthly Subscription Boxes are the newest craze. I love them. I know I've post about a few in the past good and bad. But I've been able to try out a few new ones and am working on the reviews now.

Do you use any subscription boxes?  While you wait for my reviews let me know which ones you like or have been wanting to try.

Preschool - A new Adventure

My Little Viking on his first Day

 Nathan started Preschool this week. I think he likes it, he keeps agreeing to go back. With it came many changes for our family. No more sleeping in and staying up late, daily alone time for Kahlan and I, keeping to a schedule. So far so good, we all adjusted to the schedule change well. We get to see John for a little bit in the morning and I know its good for both kids.

Nathan was hesitant telling us what he learned at school the first day. I wanted to know so badly but he kept saying I'll tell you tomorrow. Finally I bribed him and he told me. Then he sang a new song he learned that day. A whole new song he learned in one day and was able to repeat to me! You would have though he cured cancer by how proud I was. While I know its just a cute song about ducks teaching kids about numbers to me it was success, Nathan can leave me and be with people other than family and thrive and learn. That means that John and I raised a good little boy.

Waiting to go to class on the second day

On the Second Day of School as we were getting out of the car Nathan looks right at Kahlan and says "Sissy I need you to take care of my animals when you get home. They will miss me when I am gone at school and you are good with animals." Then he looks at me and says "Mama you need to help too. Especially Puppers, hes my favorite and I love him lots. Ok guys you will do that for me?" We did, Kahlan and I had a tea party with them and Kahlan took her dog Barkers and Puppers to school to meet Nathan when we picked him up.

Toy shopping at Walmart

I've been keeping Kahlan busy this week. When she is at home she gets a little restless and misses Nathan, I am sure she will adjust soon. But she is enjoying "Mommy School" aka shopping, playing and laundry ;).
We went on an adventure to find her a back back this week as she needed to have one for Mommy School.

I love that they love each other so much.

The Pet Store is always a huge hit

While I thought school was going to be this hard adjustment for everyone it turned out that everything worked out well. We get to enjoy quick outings after school and went to the pet store Friday and enjoyed sonic sundaes for lunch ( shhhh don't tell, sometimes moms need to spoil good kids too) I can't wait for the rest of the school year and all the new and fun things this new stage in our life will bring. I am also going to get to learn how much I can fit into 2 1/2 hours with Kahlan. :) If you are local and want to hang out we are free in the AM, I am done dropping him off by 8:10.

Mama look we are cute little bears

My Babies. We recently got $5 ToysRUs coupons and headed over there the other night to look for something and play with everything in the store. They were both so well behaved and waited while the other one looked at their favorite toys. They picked out their $5 toys, eventually. Kahlan picked what she wanted and was done. Easy. Nathan was picking cars and there are too many choices for matchbook/hotwheels cars for a little 4 year old.
They both left all the toys that were over their budget there. Just wanted to add them to their Chirstmas list.
I just love them. :)

thredUp Love

I know I said I was going to post later about places that I love to shop for kids clothing at and I still am. But this deal from thredUp is too good to not share with everyone now.

For a limited time you can get a $10.00 credit on your first purchase using my referral link. Click here for $10 credit with your first purchase at thredUp

I love thredUp and recently did a blog post for my Friends at Fresno Couponing. You can see the post here Reader Wendy Reviews ThredUp.

You can also try the following codes, I am not sure if they work as not as they are only for new fans but its worth a try. AUGUST20 or SMART20 for 20% off your first purchase or FAN10 for 10% off your first purchase. Let me know which code worked for you.

I have loved everything I have received from thredUp and have been so happy with all my orders.

Some of the items from my first thredUp order

Buyer Beware - Taddle Kids Review

I love saving money on kids clothing so I am usually game to try new ways to do this, most of them work out great. (There will be more on this in a future blog post. I have found some amazing places to buy stuff and save a bundle.) But recently I tried a new company who was offering a subscription service for a monthly box of New Kids Clothing. 32.99 for 8 items and they were offering 50% off and free shipping. So I gave it a shot.

I was very sad that I did. Taddle Kids was terrible. Their Facebook page claims the carry nice name brands in boxes "a few of the other brands include Carters, American Apparel, Gymboree, Ralph Lauren, Gap among others." - From their facebook page.
Mine included none of those. Some of the infant boxes I saw had some Carters, but I have yet to find anyone that had any of those other brands. Truth be told most other moms I know were either as unhappy as I am or were ok for the $16.50 we paid but canceled.

My box was nothing they promised me. No dresses or skirts as I had asked for. I said no summer only fall but was given tank tops. 2 of my 8 items were cheap socks and cheap Minnie undies. Only One complete outfit and it was a whole size too big and a tank top. The 2 long sleeve tops were marked 3T but one I couldn't even get on my daughter who wears a 2T becuase it was so small and the other was tight on her arms. You can clearly see the size difference in those leggings and the longer ones felt so cheap.

My Taddle Kids Box.

I even found 2 of the items in my box at Ross tonight. The Minnie Shirt had leggings  and was priced at $8 and the hot pink leggings had an adorable top and were priced at $9.

After a little Google searching I found out that the phone number they called me from was part of a different Company - Time and Gems, that sells refurbished watches. When I questioned them about it when I called back and they answered "Time and Gems" I was told it was an answering service.  I googled the number and it is the main number for Time and Gems. Jessie (Who seems to be the only person you deal with at the company) had his wife pose as a customer. When I posted on their wall about the errors in my box, sizing being all off and asking how I could get it fixed, it was deleted and I was told that they delete posts from people posing as their competitors or smearing their name. All I did was post about the issues with my box. When I questioned why they would accuse me of smearing their name I was blocked from the page. It seems anyone who questions anything gets blocked. When I tried to get my money back as they offer a 100% money back guarantee and the items in their box were not the right sizes I was told I would have to pay to ship it back at my expense. Once I pushed the issue and talked about all the things I had found out about the company they emailed me a return label.

They are now charging 44.99 39.99* and claim "We offer 8 items in each box, so they come out to $5.62 per article of clothing. Each piece retails between $10-13 in stores, so the savings is still significant. In addition to this, we offer free shipping and 100% worry-free guarantee."
Right there I have them proved wrong as there are outfits in there that are $9.99 or less at Ross for 2 pieces! Plus those undies are 3 for $4 or $5 less if you get them on clearance and they count one single pair as an item. I know someone who still had Ross tags on an item in their box.

So please spread the word and DO NOT bother signing up for Taddle Kids, they are full of broken promises and you can do better on your own at Ross.

Stay tuned for my post about great places you can save money and get great quality clothing for your kids. 

~Wendy

*Edited 8/14/12 = They just changed their price today again. They had this to say about it "As for the price change, we're actually going to $39.99 for 8 items (the $44.99 was temporary to slow conversions while we restocked our new inventory selection)." 
So they raised prices to slow down conversions while they restocked (shopped at Ross?). I don't even know what to say about that.
Did I mention that you should not buy from them and tell everyone you know to not buy from them?

Inspired

Inspired. That is what I am. I love the idea of a Blog but I think having two small kids got the best of me. Kahlan is 2 now and Nathan is 4 and going to start preschool soon and I have the passion and time to blog again.
Plus it is better than pointless games on Facebook or my phone.

Its going to be a place for me to share my thoughts, my ideas, whats going on, my funny and troublesome kids and what ever else I want the world to know.

I hope you'll enjoy it.